1. Technical Field
Aspects of the present invention relate to an image forming apparatus, a method of controlling an image forming apparatus, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is increasing demand for “remote printing” in which a user can cause any printer to print a print job of the user. In existing print systems, however, a print job submitted by the user can be printed only by a printer to which the print job has been submitted.
To solve the above problem, a technique is discussed where a user submits a print job to a print server, the print server stores the print job, and a printer to execute the printing receives and prints the print job (for example, Japanese Patent No. 4033857). The Japanese Patent No. 4033857 discusses that a user submits a print job to a print server to transmit bibliographic information to a bibliography server. When a printer prints the print job, the printer obtains a print job list from the bibliography server, selects the print job to be printed, and gives an instruction to print the print job. In response, the bibliography server gives the print server a print instruction, the print server transfers the print job to the printer, and the printer prints the print job.
In remote printing, however, it is not possible to specify a printer to perform printing at the time of the submission of a print job. This requires the print job to be model-independent data. Accordingly, print data is generated using a printer driver common to models, and the print job is submitted. Examples of a print setting that can be made by the printer driver common to models include a two-sided setting, a number-of-copies setting, and a reduction layout setting.
Meanwhile, there is a function termed “reservation printing” in which, when a print job has been submitted to a printer, the printer temporarily reserves the print job and then starts printing the print job after user authentication is completed.
Also in reservation printing, it is possible to submit a print job using a printer driver common to models. In many cases, however, a print job is submitted using a model-specific printer driver.
Examples of a print setting that can be made by the model-specific printer driver include the setting of a halftone process, and the setting of finishing such as a punch. Further, the model-specific printer driver may generate a binarized print job. The setting of the halftone process is used to select a method of converting multi-valued data into binary data. The halftone process is designed taking into account the engine characteristics of the printer, and therefore, a print job in which the setting of the halftone process has been made results in a model-dependent print job. The same applies to the case where the model-specific printer driver performs a binarization process. Further, the setting of finishing such as the punch depends on a sheet discharge option attached to the printer, and therefore, a print job in which the setting of finishing has been made results in a model-dependent print job.
Both in the remote printing and the reservation printing described above, user authentication is carried out before the start of printing, and the user selects from a print job list of the user a job to be printed, and starts printing the selected job. At this time, the print jobs of which the user names match the user name of the user are displayed as the print job list. Thus, at the time of remote printing, it is possible to select also the print job submitted for reservation printing. As a result, a different printer can print such model-dependent print job, and therefore, it may not be possible to ensure the image quality, or the print setting may not be effective.